First Contact
by Kerjen
Summary: Amanda asks Saavik to help her with something and their friendship grows.


Note to Beth Baxter: I saw your note in _Terrifying_ , but unfortunately, FFN removed your email address so I can't contact you. I'm Kerjen and I'd **LOVE** to talk to you about my stories' timeline, its canon, etc. Try emailing me at kerjenfanfic at yahoo dot com or my website at kerjen dot net or on Facebook at Kerjen Fanfic. I hope to hear from you!

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Amanda was waiting for Saavik outside Starfleet Headquarters on Vulcan. She rose from the bench when she saw the younger woman.

She waited for them to be side by side and began walking. "Saavik, do you remember the first time you saw someone who wasn't Vulcanoid?"

"Yes, of course."

"Then you remember what that was like, seeing a person who was maybe vastly different than you."

"It was a family and they were."

Amanda stopped to look up into those dark eyes. "Imagine the positions were reversed and I asked you what that meeting should be like?"

Saavik cocked her head; this questioning appeared random, but she would answer a bit more before asking why. "I would want them to be comfortable and not awkward. They should feel free to ask me questions, as long as they are hospitable."

Amanda's eyes gleamed. "Perfect answer. Come with me."

They reached the point where Saavik had to ask why. "Amanda, where are we going? What is the reasoning behind what you've asked?"

The older woman patiently answered as they headed for a transporter station. "For all its sophistications, the Federation – in fact each world - still has rural areas. That's not a criticism, by the way. It means, we have people throughout our universe who have never seen anyone besides their own kind. Or they see holovids but never face to face. Things happen in their lives, a new job on another world or they decide it's time to see other places, and that brings them to other lifeforms."

Saavik glanced over. "We are meeting such people?"

"Yes. They stop at the Orbital Station first before they are approved to come to Vulcan or approved to leave the system. While they're waiting for their paperwork, we will greet them." They reached the transporter station. "I have other people meeting us there for the same purpose."

They moved to the transporter pads and Amanda gave last instructions. "The children will want to touch you, even some adults will. If your controls can handle it, please let them, just for a few seconds."

She smiled at Saavik right as the beam started. "I've done this plenty of times."

It was exactly how it went. Saavik knelt in front of three human children, four Andorians, and two Caitians. She leaned her head forward so they could touch her ears, feel her hands for the different body temperature, and played a game where they guessed if she had closed her inner eyelids or not. She grabbed a pipe from a pile for new construction and bent it, getting wide eyes from everyone. She answered every question and when one mother used the action of picking up her son as he felt an ear tip to brush it herself, Saavik said nothing about it so the woman wouldn't be embarrassed.

She caught Amanda speaking in Vulcan to a small family from an outlying district. A group of people beyond her were greeting people as well: an Andorian, a few humans, a Caitian, and more. In a break as some of their guests headed for ships leaving the system, Saavik asked about those other greeters.

"You said they were with you?"

They were. They needed or had needed unique help. Help that the older woman could fortunately give them.

Amanda watched them for a minute before she gave Saavik a special glow lighting her expression. "I call them my strays and you, my dear, have become my absolute favorite. Never forget it."

It sounded casual; they both knew it wasn't.

Saavik found it hard to talk normally. She blamed it on everyone touching her so her controls were weakened.

Amanda made no judgements, she didn't tease. She waited until Saavik bobbed her head with some emphasis. She turned and then waved her fingers in a beckoning gesture. She half looked over her shoulder, waiting, her hand still in the air.

Saavik realized the gesture was meant for her.

Only for her.

She came to Amanda's shoulder and simply looked back into those blue eyes that glowed more. They had made a pact and a promise.

They returned to greeting people who never saw a Vulcan or human before, side by side.


End file.
